Sports Shorts

Friday

Feb 29, 2008 at 4:52 AMFeb 29, 2008 at 7:59 AM

CHESTER, Pa. | The Philadelphia suburb of Chester was awarded a Major League Soccer team on Thursday that will start play in 2010.The unnamed team will play in an 18,500-seat stadium planned for the Delaware River waterfront. The stadium is part of a $414 million redevelopment plan for the city, which is southwest of Philadelphia.Men's outdoor pro soccer hasn't been played in the Philadelphia area since the Fury folded in 1980.Beijing will stop the rain for OlympicsBEIJING | As they prepare to host the Olympics - an event whose very purpose is to push the limits of human beings - the Chinese are trying to do what man never has: Control the weather.With five months to go before the Summer Games come to Beijing, Chinese scientists say they are confident they can keep rain away from the opening ceremony, or summon a storm on cue to clear the city's choking pollution.At installations like one called Fragrant Hills, outside Beijing, peasants don military fatigues and helmets and squat behind anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers, blasting the sky with silver iodide, hoping to shock rain from the clouds.If rain threatens the opening or closing ceremony, Beijing officials say they will set up several banks of rocket launchers outside the city to seed threatening clouds and cause them to release their rain before it reaches the capital.Bob Knight hired as analyst by ESPNBRISTOL, Conn. | Bob Knight will work as a guest studio analyst for ESPN during the NCAA tournament.The Hall of Fame coach, who resigned from Texas Tech on Feb. 4, will begin his new job on March 12 during the conference tournaments.Knight's busy schedule will include providing commentary on Selection Sunday and traveling to San Antonio to offer analysis during the Final Four."I think ESPN has been real good for college basketball and I look forward to working with some of their people who I have known a long time," Knight said in a statement.Justine Henin loses at DubaiDUBAI, United Arab Emirates | Justine Henin lost in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, falling to Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4)."She played really well," Henin said. "She was hitting hard, coming to the net, slicing ... really mixing it up. I had my chances but I did not take them, whereas she did. She was definitely a better player and deserved to win."in other tennis | Top seeds David Nalbandian and Flavia Pennetta advanced to the semifinals of the Mexican Open clay-court tournament.Herd Racing unveils Marshall carCHARLESTON, W.Va. | With the roar of the engine resonating off the state Capitol, Gov. Joe Manchin unveiled the No. 75 Marshall University stock car Thursday.Backers are hoping to drum up enough sponsors to enter the car on the NASCAR Nationwide circuit later this season.The car's number is in memory of the 75 Marshall coaches, players and supporters killed in a November 1970 plane crash.Olympic champion appeals banLOS ANGELES | Justin Gatlin has filed a brief with the Court of Arbitration for Sport outlining the appeal of his four-year ban for doping violations.The reigning Olympic 100-meter gold medalist is seeking to void the first of his two doping violations in order to allow him to compete this summer in the Beijing Games.A U.S. arbitration panel reduced Gatlin's suspension from eight years to four years, but that still would prevent him from competing this summer.Gatlin tested positive for excessive testosterone at the Kansas Relays in 2006, his second doping violation. But his attorney Maurice Suh contends his first doping violation, in 2001, should be rescinded because it involved a medicine the then 19-year-old sprinter was taking for attention deficit disorder.- Associated Press